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Wednesday, 29 September 2010

Okay, nothing to do with gaming (although watch me try to link it in later) but I thought I'd share with you this marvellous animation of a zoom in on a Mandelbrot fractal.

The notes on the animation are quite mind-blowing, especially considering the scale of the thing. It's quite a large file so it may run better if you don't have too much open at the same time. YMMV.

It strikes me that the zooming, getting further and further in and yet finding that there seem to be never-ending layers of complexity is quite like the process of designing a world, except in reverse. You start out with a feature, give it some effects, stats, etc, and then pull back and realise that it's in a room, so you flesh that out, then the room needs an area, the area needs a level, the level is in a dungeon, the dungeon is in a country...you get the picture.

Of course, the Mandelbrot fractal could probably go on for far longer than any sane DM would like to extend the design process (although I'm no mathematician so if anyone knows different, they might wish to enlighten me). And physicists do point to the fractal as a display of how staggeringly beautiful complexity can arise as if from nowhere.

Monday, 27 September 2010

My thanks to Evan from In Places Deep who has just become my 100th follower!

I'm absolutely delighted to have made it to triple figures - I know I've not been posting as much as perhaps I should have just recently but there is some stuff in the pipeline (more hooks, CoC material, the adventures of Junior Grognard) and when I have the time to get it done just right, you'll be seeing it here.

Meanwhile, to every single one of you, this is to say thanks for following!

Sunday, 26 September 2010

Regular readers of this blog may remember last autumn that I was busy introducing Junior Grognard to the delights of AD&D via my Training Dungeon concept (click on the Training Dungeon label to review this series). We then moved into a bit of sandboxing but with the lengthening days of spring and other demands on Sundays, things went quiet. As he was the only player, the workload of running a party of six or so got a bit much and if he didn't feel like doing a session, there was no game, full stop.

There was also some trouble with the degree of scariness involved in my adventures (hell, I like CoC, I'm a dark dude) and after some discussion with Mummy Grognard, we decided that it would probably be best if I put things off for a couple of years (he's seven and a half at the moment).

However, just the other day, we were walking from school back to the car and our route took us past the cemetery. I made a few comments about skeletons and turning them, he countered with a comment that he would use his hammer (as it was a blunt weapon) and before we knew it, he was wanting to game again. He wanted to re-do the Training Dungeon but his conversation left me in no doubt that he remembered all the tricks and traps and it would be no good going down that route.

Then I had a flash of inspiration and proposed the following:

If he could get three or four of his friends to form a party and he felt he was up to it, he could DM the Training Dungeon for them. The responsibility of selecting and recruiting his players would be up to him, giving him an incentive to be a bit more evangelical about the game. I would sit in and give advice and adjudication on points (if required) where his understanding or confidence was a little short. I even dug out and gifted him a downloaded AEC so that my vintage 1e books would remain free from creases, stains and notes.

I'm quite keyed up for this; I hope it comes off for a number of reasons, not least because it gets us gaming again, expands his knowledge of the rules and the skills of DMing and hopefully establishes a group of players who can then spread the word that D&D is cool - and good - for kids.

Sunday, 19 September 2010

Ahar, me hearties, tis September 19th, the day when all ye scurvy landlubbers can talk like we swashbuckling sea dogs!

So no more talk of gold pieces or longswords - tis pieces of eight and cutlasses today. I'll be drinkin' rum in Port Royal afore raising the Jolly Roger and settin' sail for a raid on a Spanish galleon or two.

What I'm DMing for 6 new junior players

Old School Links to Wisdom

Give your d12...

...some Old School love

Running now

Call of Cthulhu - visit our wiki

That's what Old School means to me

"These rules are flexible and open to interpretation - designed not to cover all conceivable situations, but to allow good Referees and Players the freedom to create and play games of their own design."

from the Lulu download page for The White Box S&W from BHP

"This game is unlike chess in that the rules are not cut and dried. In many places, they are guidelines and suggested methods only. This is part of the attraction of Advanced Dungeons and Dragons"

About Me

Over halfway to 90, I started playing AD&D when the Police were a cool band and Punk was wild. I am a father to a ten-year-old Junior Grognard and have now managed to establish a five-strong gaming group made up of him and four of his friends, ages ranging from 10 to 11. Solidly Old-School.
High fives and natural 20s to you all!